Still Waters

by Linda Kavanagh

  “You’re angry with me now, Ivy, but I wasn’t a bad husband, was I? I did my best to make you happy. I bought you everything your heart desired – jewellery, cars, holidays – you and Joseph have always been the most important people in the world to me.”

  For an instant, Ivy felt a spiteful desire to wound him by telling him that Joseph wasn’t really his son. But just as quickly she realised that by allowing herself a momentary pleasure, she might cause him to behave unpredictably. She was grateful that Joseph was away at university, and unaware that his parents’ lives were unravelling by the minute.

  As though reading her mind, Danny gave her a lop-sided smile.

  “Oh, by the way, I know all about Joseph.”

  Ivy froze.

  “I know he’s not my son – but he’s Joe’s child, so he’s family anyway, and since you were willing to pass him off as mine, that was fine by me.”

  At last, Ivy found her voice. “H-how did you find out?”

  Danny gave her a sad smile. “Surprisingly, it never dawned on me, even when you gave birth ‘early’. But when there was no sign of a second child, I went to a private clinic for a sperm test – and discovered I hadn’t been responsible for the first child. The clinic told me I was sterile.” He smiled sadly. “So I’ve been lucky, Ivy. You gave me a wonderful son, whom I’d never have had otherwise.”

  “So that’s why we never had any children together,” Ivy whispered. Then she gasped as another realisation struck home. “Which means that Rosa was lying – she must have been so desperate to keep you that she pretended to be pregnant!”

  Danny nodded. “It was a silly thing for her to say – and it was all our undoing. If she hadn’t tried so hard to hang on to me, she’d still be alive, and I’d have lived the life I was meant to.”

  In the silence that followed, they both looked at each other uncertainly.

  Finally Danny spoke. “Oh, and by the way, you needn’t worry about your possessions in the lake – when I put Rosa’s body in Dad’s car, I removed your handbag with your passport and certificates inside it, and burnt them. No one will ever know that you were there.”

  Ivy was relieved. No wonder she’d found nothing when she’d dived in herself.

  “But I didn’t do it for you, Ivy – I did it for me,” said Danny, a hint of anger in his voice as he noted her relieved expression. “If anyone ever got round to finding the car, I didn’t want them finding my wife’s stuff in there, along with my dead brother.”

  Ivy stared at him. Danny had saved her for the sake of his personal pride. He couldn’t bear for anyone to know that his brother had been her first preference.

  But what might once have been flattering had become a deadly obsession.

  Unable to look at Danny, Ivy looked down at her hands, watching as the little diamond in her engagement ring twinkled as it caught the light. Although Danny had wanted to buy her a bigger diamond, Ivy had always refused. She’d loved the ring he’d bought for their third month’s anniversary – and he’d been so angry when she’d nearly discovered it under the bed …

  Suddenly, Ivy felt as though an electric shock had run through her. She gasped, and Danny looked quizzically at her.

  “Your bedroom, in your parents’ house –” she whispered.

  Danny nodded as he saw her touch the ring. “Yes, I had to keep you from finding Rosa’s rucksack. I’d hidden it under the bed, meaning to get rid of it, but it wasn’t easy to dispose of.”

  Ivy was now trembling. “So the ring was never there at all –”

  Danny laughed now. “No, it wasn’t. You really gave me a fright that day, Ivy! I had to think of some reason to stop you looking under the bed – that ring cost me an arm and a leg back then – well, actually, it was Rosa’s money that bought it. I think Hannah must have given her the cash for her trip to London …”

  Shuddering, Ivy peeled off the engagement ring and threw it on the floor. She felt unclean for unwittingly wearing it for the previous twenty years. She’d never, ever wear it again.

  Danny shrugged his shoulders as though her gesture meant little to him now. Then he crossed the floor to the safe in the drawing room wall, unlocked it and extracted some papers. Placing them in the inside pocket of his jacket, he returned to stand before her, taking her hand in his.

  “You probably hate me now, but all I ever wanted was for you to love me.” He looked sad. “And since Hannah’s about to die and the lake is being drained, I’m left with very little choice. I’m sorry to tell you, my love – there’s going to be a tragic accident.”

  Alarmed, Ivy pulled her hand away and looked towards the door, suddenly fearful for her life. This man, to whom she’d been married for twenty years, was now a stranger, and suddenly she felt afraid of him. If he could kill Rosa, why not her, too?

  Danny looked disappointed at her reaction. “Don’t worry, Ivy – I’m not going to harm you. I love you, so I could never hurt you. I made one mistake all those years ago – and I suppose I should be grateful that I got away with it for so long.”

  He smiled whimsically as he moved towards the door.

  “Danny –” Ivy could hardly speak, and his name came out as a croak, “– what do you mean, ‘accident’? You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”

  Danny shook his head, but said nothing. He reached for the door handle, and as he turned back, Ivy could see that his eyes were glistening with tears again.

  “Danny, where are you going? Is it to the police?” Ivy asked. “I’m sure they’ll accept that it was an accident –”

  Danny cocked an eyebrow. “It wasn’t an accident, Ivy, and I’ve no intention of ending up in prison.”

  He opened the door.

  “Besides, if I’m branded a murderer, your life and Joseph’s would be ruined. Can’t you see the headlines – ‘Soap star’s husband convicted of murder’? No, my dear wife – Betterbuys must go on, for both your sakes. Joseph will be able to take over the reins as soon as he finishes university. It’ll be a baptism of fire, but I have faith in his ability.”

  “Danny, you’re scaring me – what are you talking about? Joseph’s not nearly ready, and anyway, why would he –”

  Looking at his wife’s puzzled expression, Danny’s face softened, and his eyes glittered through his tears. “I don’t want you to have to scrimp like we did all those years ago when you were at RADA,” he said gently. “We’d a tough time making ends meet, hadn’t we?”

  Ivy’s heart filled with pain as she recalled those lean and difficult years, but Danny had worked hard to make her dream of becoming an actress possible. Yet even still, a retort was forming on her lips.

  “Yet despite us being poor, you still managed to buy the Hampstead house behind my back!”

  Danny grimaced. “I had to – I needed somewhere secure to write Rosa’s letters, and to receive Hannah’s. I was able to hide Rosa’s rucksack there, and set up a darkroom so that I could work on the photographs and do the digital editing of Rosa’s voice.” He suddenly smiled. “You have no idea how difficult it was to convince the bank that I could service the loans for both the first small supermarket and the Hampstead house! I mortgaged us to the hilt back then, but I paid it all off as soon as Betterbuys started to do well.”

  Ivy looked at her husband and for an instant saw the man she’d grown to love, the dynamic man she’d married. Even when he’d been young, Danny had projected an aura of success. No one would have doubted that he was going to be a high achiever.

  “Danny, let’s think this through,” she begged him. “We’ve always been able to sort out our problems before –”

  Danny shook his head as he gripped the door handle, his knuckles white. “I’m sorry, Ivy – believe me, it’s better this way.”

  “What way? For God’s sake, Danny, what do you mean? And what did you mean about a tragic accident?”

  Ivy longed to run to him, but she felt rooted to the spot by some strange inability to move. It was as though her limbs
had turned to lead.

  Ignoring her question, Danny still stood in the doorway. “Will you clear out my stuff from the Hampstead house?” he asked. “Then maybe you’d think of signing it over to Patty Brampton – she’s a nice woman, and she and the boy deserve a break.”

  Ivy’s mouth dropped open. “I don’t understand – I mean, why can’t you –” Then a sudden thought popped into her mind. “Did you ask her to pretend Rosa lived there?”

  Danny nodded. “That’s why I kept a tenant. I was always worried in case anyone – maybe even Hannah – turned up looking for Rosa. It was the only favour I ever asked of her.”

  Ivy bit her trembling lip. In a peculiar way, she was grateful to Danny for thinking of them all. And his concern for Patty Brampton almost caused her to break down. Her husband wasn’t all bad – they’d had twenty good years together.

  “Danny, you still haven’t answered my question – please tell me you’re not going to do anything stupid,” Ivy begged him.

  Danny smiled, his eyes glassy, and Ivy could tears running down his cheeks. “My beloved Ivy, just remember – this time, the situation will be reversed.”

  “What do you mean by ‘reversed’? Please, Danny, wait –”

  For a moment he seemed to hesitate, and Ivy took a step towards him. But then he was gone, and she stood paralysed at the drawing-room door, listening to his footsteps echoing down the marble steps outside. As she heard the front door slam, Ivy’s knees buckled under her. She slipped to the floor and began to weep.

  Chapter 60

  That night, Ivy lay awake, alone and shivering in the big double bed that she and Danny had shared for so much of their married life. This was the bed in which they’d made love so many times. The bed had been their haven, the place where they’d snuggled up and held each other tight, to escape from the world outside. She longed for everything to be back the way it had been … but now that she knew the truth, nothing could ever be the same again.

  Tears soaked her pillow and she wondered where Danny had gone. Perhaps he’d stayed at his London club, or in a hotel somewhere? Hopefully he’d walk in again the following morning. His words about Joseph taking over the running of Betterbuys had chilled her to the bone. He’d never try to – no, she wouldn’t even give that idea space in her head. But what had he meant about an ‘accident’, and signing the Hampstead house over to Mrs Brampton? It all sounded so final. She could only hope that Danny had decided to go to the police himself, and he wanted her to take control of things in his absence … She didn’t dare think of any alternative.

  Eventually she fell into a troubled sleep, filled with nightmares and vague shadows that were always just out of reach. She woke again as the first light of dawn began filtering through the curtains, and there was a moment before she remembered what had happened, and in that moment she’d been sleepily happy. But then her world came crashing down around her again. She felt consumed with guilt that she’d been able to sleep at all.

  It was also dawning on her that if Danny didn’t return soon, she’d need to get Rosa’s letters, postcards and the laptop from Hannah’s house. And she’d have to do it quickly, because once Hannah died the locals – maybe even her own parents – might decide to look through the letters for some way of contacting Rosa.

  Ivy bit her lip. But she couldn’t just turn up in Willow Haven out of the blue – where oh where was Danny? Although it was only first light, she reached for the phone on her bedside table and tried his mobile number. But there was no answer, and Ivy felt a deep sense of unease in the pit of her stomach.

  Frantically, she leapt out of bed and hurried into the shower.

  “We don’t know exactly what happened, Mrs Heartley,” one of the police officers told her apologetically. “But the boat was badly listing way out in the Channel, and there was no sign of your husband. The emergency services found a lifejacket in the water, so he may have been trying unsuccessfully to put it on.” The officer looked at her closely. “Have you any idea why he’d have taken his boat out in such bad weather?”

  Ivy shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “Is there any hope –?”

  The officers looked at each other, then down at their feet, clearly embarrassed and discomfited by her question.

  “It would take a miracle, to be honest, ma’am,” said one of the officers at last. “Without a life jacket, and in such rough seas –”

  His voice trailed off as the other policeman took over.

  “Obviously, we’ll let you know when we find the – I mean, Mr Heartley.”

  After a shuffling of feet, the first police officer spoke again. “He wasn’t depressed, was he?”

  Ivy shook her head again, choosing to ignore the oblique reference to suicide. Her emotions were in turmoil. So Danny had chosen to end it in his own way. Now it was down to her to make certain that no one else came to that conclusion. She didn’t want Joseph suffering even greater stress by discovering that his father had taken his own life.

  “Did your husband have any, er, financial problems?”

  Ivy glared angrily at them through her tears. “Absolutely not. Betterbuys is doing brilliantly – he opened two new stores last month!”

  The police officers gave her a sympathetic look, and Ivy suspected they were wondering how much she genuinely knew about her husband’s business dealings. Perhaps they’d already assumed that Danny’s behaviour was an indication that the company was in trouble. But they’d soon find out how well the company was doing. Ivy sighed. She’d gladly face bankruptcy if she could just have her old life back again.

  “In the meantime, if you need any support, here are the phone numbers for the police liaison service, and several helpful organisations –”

  With a nod of thanks, Ivy took the proffered cards. She’d no intention of contacting any organisation. She’d managed to keep her demons under control for half her lifetime, and she’d continue to do so in the future.

  “Oh, Ivy – oh my God, I can’t believe it!”

  Ivy could hear her mother crying at the other end of the phone.

  “Wait till I tell your father – Peter, you’re not going to believe it, but Danny’s dead – drowned off his boat. Poor Ivy, oh my God –”

  Ivy’s father took the phone. “Love, are you alright? I’m sure they’ll find him. Look, he’s probably made it to shore somewhere along the coast –”

  “No, Dad, it looks like he wasn’t wearing a life jacket – at this stage, there’s no hope.”

  “Well, we can be on the next train –”

  “Thanks, Dad – but there’s no need, I’m okay. Joseph is due home later today. He’ll have lots of questions, I suppose, and I need to spend time with him.”

  “Ivy, I insist! We can be on the train this evening – neither you nor Joseph should be on your own at a time like this.”

  “Actually, Dad – I was thinking of coming down to Willow Haven myself …”

  “But don’t you need to stay with Joseph?”

  Ivy felt a fraud. But then, she’d been deceiving the people she loved all her life. Right now, she desperately needed to get into Hannah’s cottage.

  “Well, maybe I should go to see Peggy –”

  “Nonsense – even though Danny was Peggy’s brother, at a time like this she and Ned would expect to come to you! Anyway, your mother and I will go over there immediately to offer our condolences. Poor Peggy – she’s only got Ned and the kids left now.” Her father grunted. “Here’s your mother again – she’s bursting to tell you what’s been happening here in Willow Haven.”

  Ivy heard her mother’s voice. “Ivy, you’re not going to believe this, but Hannah Dalton’s house was burgled last night! The police think it must have been vandals, but they won’t know until they’ve done those forensic tests – oh God, what am I wittering on about? You’ve just lost your husband, and I’m telling you about something totally trivial –”

  Ivy felt a moment of relief. She no longer needed to go to Willow
Haven. Danny had obviously been the perpetrator, making sure that all evidence of Rosa’s letters and emails had been removed, ensuring that the link to him was broken forever. Ivy felt a surge of gratitude towards him for attending to this last part of the cover-up before he died.

  “Needless to say, we’re not going to tell Hannah what happened,” Ivy’s mother added. “The poor dear isn’t expected to last much longer anyway, and it would break her heart to discover what those vandals have done to her home.” Her mother sighed. “And there’s still no sign of Rosa –”

  Ivy stifled a sob as she thought of poor Hannah who would die without seeing her daughter.

  “Love, are you okay?”

  “Yes, Mum, I’m fine – well, not really, I mean, it’s hard to take it all in … put Dad back on the phone, will you?”

  When Ivy’s father came on the line, Ivy was contrite.

  “Dad, about you and Mum coming here – well yes, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Sorry, I think I was a bit confused when you suggested it. So if you wouldn’t mind taking the train this evening, I’d really appreciate the support.”

  “Of course, love. At times like these, you need your family around you.”

  “Yes, I’m so grateful to have you and Mum. But you don’t need to stay long – I know that Hannah will be needing you, too.” Having arranged for her parents to let friends and neighbours in Willow Haven know about Danny’s drowning, Ivy rang off feeling weepy and drained. She was deeply grateful for her parents’ support – and she’d continue to need it while she played out the final act of the play that was now her life.

  Ivy braced herself. Joseph was already on his way back from university, shocked and puzzled by his father’s death. She’d explained it as a tragic accident, but her son knew what a skilled sailor Danny had been. She therefore had to hope he’d accept that the power of the sea had ultimately been greater than Danny’s abilities. At least she could truthfully assure her son that there hadn’t been any problems in his parents’ marriage – until, that is, she uncovered the truth about Danny’s other life.